Calvin Britain (December 31, 1800 – January 18, 1862) was an American politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of the

U. S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Biography

Britain was born in

Jefferson County, New York Jefferson County is a county on the northern border of the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 116,721. Its county seat is Watertown. The county is named after Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United St ...

. Britain came from New York to Michigan in 1827 and for a time was a teacher at the

Carey Mission The Carey Mission was established by Baptist missionary Isaac McCoy among the Potawatomi tribe of American Indians on the St. Joseph River near Niles, Michigan, United States in December, 1822. It was named for William Carey, a noted English Bap ...

Niles, Michigan Niles is a city in Berrien and Cass counties in the U.S. state of Michigan, near the Indiana border city of South Bend. In 2010, the population was 11,600 according to the 2010 census. It is the larger, by population, of the two principal cit ...

Career

In 1829 Britain and Augustus Newell acquired the lands on which the business portion of St. Joseph was later built. Newell built the first hotel in 1831 known as the "Mansion House". The government surveyed the land in 1830, and Britain laid out the plat of the village in 1831 calling it Newburyport. Britain also built a warehouse and bought and sold real estate. The name of the town was changed to St. Joseph in 1834. As a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, Britain was a member of the

Legislative Council of Michigan Territory The Michigan Territorial Council, known formally as the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, was the legislative body of the Territory of Michigan from 1824 to 1835, when it was succeeded by the Michigan Legislature in anticipation ...

from 1832 to 1835, Michigan Senate from 1835 to 1837, Michigan House of Representatives from 1847 to 1851, and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850. Due to changes to the

Michigan Constitution The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. There have been four constitutions approved by the people of Michigan. The fi ...

adopted at that convention, he was elected to a one-year term as the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Michigan with Governor Robert McClelland.

Death and legacy

Britain never married and resided in St. Joseph until his death there in 1862. He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Saint Joseph City Cemetery, St. Joseph, Michigan. Calvin Township in

Cass County, Michigan Cass County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 51,589. Its county seat is Cassopolis. Cass County is included in the South Bend– Mishawaka, IN-MI, Metropolitan Statistical Area which has a ...

, is named for him.Rogers, Howard S. (1875)
''History of Cass County, from 1825 to 1875''
p. 208. W.H. Mansfield.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Britain, Calvin 1800 births 1862 deaths Lieutenant Governors of Michigan Burials in Michigan Democratic Party Michigan state senators Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Members of the Michigan Territorial Legislature 19th-century American politicians